My new year's resolution is to stop making five-year plans. I stress over where I'm going to be in five years so often.
— Lzzy Hale
What people don't normally know about us is the hustle is very real, and it's sorely driven a lot by how we consider ourselves. We don't pay a whole lot of attention to any type of judgment that we might get from outside people. I think that comes from growing up onstage.
There's always an element of truth to what I write because that's why I write.
I play mostly Gibsons. In fact, they have just given me a signature guitar.
In my world, before I knew about Eddie Van Halen, I was playing piano, and at that point in my teenage life, I thought he was just a guitar player.
I feel like, as a girl, I would have reacted or maybe been more depressed about some of the things that would have happened in my life if I didn't have music.
We don't dip our toe into religion or politics, because you can't win.
When we began to tour, no one expected me to be a part of the band, so I used that as a tool, and would start the set off-stage or in the audience, as a surprise, because no one expected this little girl to get up and rock the way I do.
If, through my own personal journey, I can inspire someone else to self-love, that would be the biggest accomplishment.
I remember that when people started listening to what I had to say, I had a choice to set up a veil, even if it meant being something that I'm not. Ultimately, that's not the decision I made. I owned more of everything I am, which was a little nerve-racking.
We're so humbled and lucky to be in a position where we've been a four-piece for over 15 years. We're signed to a major label. We're on our fourth record on a major label. We've won a Grammy. We've toured the world.
I had, like, a keytar. I was always attracted to the guitar, but I never really thought that I could be good at it because I was trained on piano, so it was kind of a jump.
I got this cheap guitar, and then I fell in love with it and basically put down the keyboard.
There is something in my brain that said if I get Halestorm to a point where people are actually listening to what I have to say, I might as well put out positivity and be that empowering figure that I would have wanted in a rock star.
I've dealt my entire career with sexist and condescending people.
I've been in the songwriting circuit as well. I've been in a couple writing camps where there are seven top writers or whatever, and they're writing songs for a young girl or a young guy that are coming up, and they're kind of nuts.
It's important for people to realize that music is gender-less. We are proving that every single day. On this tour, there are more women than men in the audience, and it's beautiful to see these girls own these hard-rock moments.
Something that I don't normally tell, and it's not necessarily because I wanna keep it from anybody - I just don't think about it - but one thing about me that not a whole lot of people know and that never really gets brought up is that I actually don't have a driver's license. I've never taken a driver's test.
What I really realized is that by being myself, regardless of what that means, you become a better role model.
I keep changing my stuff. I used to play through a Marshall JCM800, and then I also had a Randy Rhoads signature amp. So before I was playing EVH, I was playing an ODB pedal. I still have my Dunlop Jerry Cantrell wah pedal because I love that.
I wanted to be a multi-instrumentalist.
It'd be great to have more categories in the rock and metal category - but I don't want that job, picking where everybody is supposed to go.
I grew up in a household that never talked about limitations.
There's a misconception that, as you have success with a band for a long time, things get easier, and that's not necessarily true. It's harder to keep connecting with that fire that got you started in the first place when you're amongst all the politics in the business, and just having a little bit of that looming pressure.
You can't please everyone. There's always going to be someone disappointed, so you might as well make yourself happy and Be You.
